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, UNITED STATES PATENT OFIOLL JNO. E. CAME, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND JAMES E. CAME, OF SAME PLACE.

BILLIARD-'IABLE CUSHION.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 22,263, dated December 7, 1858.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Jol-IN E. CAME, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Billiard-Table Cushions, and do hereby declare that the same is fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure l, is a front view, exhibiting in detail the mode of carrying out my invention. Fig. 2, is a transverse section of a billiard table cushion constructed in my improved manner.

The nature of my invention consists in making the cushion of a vulcanized caoutchouc body, a thin facing of hickory or its equivalent, and a water proof covering` to such facing, the whole being arranged together and covered with one or more layers ofv cloth as hereinafter described.

In the drawings, A, denotes the cushion supporter, or rail of a billiard table, B being the vulcanized caoutchouc body of the cushion arranged in the former and having the shape as exhibited in the figures. rIhe inner face of this cushion is covered with a very thin sheet or plate of hickory or other material of like nature, the same being represented at a, it being cemented to the body B, by india rubber or other proper cement. rIhe, external surface of the said plate or cover is protected by a water proof cover cemented to it, or by cloth connected to it by india rubber cement, the said cover being composed of a material impervious to water or moisture, and operating to prevent the wooden part, a, from splitting while the cover is in use. Over the whole so made one or more layers of cloth, c, d, may be arranged and drawn tightly. It is found in practice, that the addition of the wooden facing` a, to the vulcanized elastic body B, overcomes the difficulty arising from the great amount of elasticity possessed by the material of which the body part, B, is composed-and furthermore that in order to prevent the wooden facing from being broken or cracked either from blows of the billiard balls or the action of moisture or changes in temperature, it becomes necessary to cover it with a water proof cover as set forth.

A billiard table cushion so made, or having its working surface so' indurated, operates to much better advantage than it would were the indurating plate of wood dispensed with, for it is not only rendered more durable, but it defects the ball with far greater accuracy. In practice, it has proved a very valuable improvement.

I do not claim a billiard table cushion made of vulcanized caoutchouc alone, or of the same covered with cloth. Nor do I claim the application of a pasteboard, steel, whalebone, or hard vulcanized caoutchouc facing to the elastic caoutchouc body or bed of a cushion for a billiard table and having a common leather or cloth or nonwater proof covering simply stitched on it and not connected to it. I/Vhen a plate or thin layer of whalebone or pasteboard has been fixed to the entire surface of the rubber body of the cushion, its outer surface has not been covered with a layer of water proof material cemented to it throughout. When cloth is applied to the facing of hickory or its equivalent by caoutchouc cement the cement not only protects the wood or hard facing from dampness and the effect of atmospheric changes, but by its elasticity and its connection with the cloth covering, the wood is not only prevented from being split or injured by the blows of the balls, but the balls are caused to operate to better advantage, than when the covering over the hard facing is loose or not cemented thereto. A moinents reflection will sufce to satisfy any person, that when a ball impinges at an acute angle against a cushion the cloth of which or leather cover is loose or disconnected from the body at the place of impact such ball will drive the cloth before it into a ridge which will operate to injure the proper reflex of the ball. When the hard hickory facing has its cover cemented to it, no such injurious lateral movement of the cover cantake place under a blow of the ball. The main characteristics of my improvementare, that the covering of the hard facing of the body should be water proof and be cemented to the outer surface of the facing. Then the covering is cloth as above described, and has a layer of cloth stretched tightly over it, the adhesion or friction of the two layers of cloth, generally speaking, will be sufficient to prevent the outer layer from having any injurious lateral movement, but to entirely prevent any such, the two layers of 'cloth may be cemented together. Thus, it will be seen that the mere being applied together and covered With one or more layers of cloth substantially as herein before described.

In testimony whereof7 I have hereunto set employment of a strip of Whalebone, pasteboard or steel, as a facing to the rubber body irrespective of the Water proof cover, I do not claim, but

5 What I do claim is my signature.

' My improved mode of mal-kino' a billiard 1 table cushion, viz, of a vulcanized caoutc JOHN E CAMP chouc body A, a, thin facing a., of hickory Witnesses or its equivalent and a covering thereto of I-I. EDDY,

10 a Water proof cloth or material, the Whole F. P. HALE, Jr. 

